Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds Studios London has been making wax figures for over 150 years and remains one of the world's great tourist attractions.

Madame Tussauds

One of the world’s great tourist attractions continues to delight millions of people every year.

Madame Tussauds Studios London has been making wax figures for over 150 years and at the heart of its enduring success is good, old-fashioned curiosity.

Enjoy a truly unique, emotionally-charged journey through the worlds of the powerful, rich and famous. Get up close and personal with A-list celebrities, sporting legends, political heavyweights and historical icons, reliving the times, events and moments that made the world talk about them.

CELEBRITY In Madame Tussauds London you can mingle with the stars by getting up close to incredibly lifelike replicas of 21st century stars such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kate Moss, Robert Pattinson, Helen Mirren, Johnny Depp, George Clooney and Kylie Minogue, plus sports stars, royalty and infamous figures from the past.

FILM Step straight into the movies with some of the greatest icons of film history. Mingle with the greats of the silver screen as well as much loved movie characters – The Terminator, Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act, Katniss Everdeen, E.T and Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

MUSIC Get your backstage pass to the music event of the year. Meet the biggest boyband One Direction, take to the stage with pop icons Madonna, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Adele, Britney Spears, Rihanna and moonwalk alongside Michael Jackson!

MARVEL Here’s just a few of the Super Heroes you’ll meet in the Marvel Secret Command Centre at Madame Tussauds…Wolverine, Captain America, The Invisible Woman, Hawkeye, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Nick Fury and Iron Man

STAR WARS Star Wars at Madame Tussauds is a unique, immersive experience starring extraordinarily life-like wax figures of the favourite heroes and villains of Star Wars Episodes I-VI. Explore a galaxy of locations, including the swamps of Dagobah, Jabba’s Throne Room and the flight deck of the Millennium Falcon.

YOUTUBE Enter into the digital world of YouTube and meet two of Britain’s most popular vloggers, Zoe Sugg (Zoella) and Alfie Deyes (PointlessBlog).

CHAMBER OF HORRORS Brave the scariest Chamber Of Horrors ever seen, complete with actors as bloodthirsty serial killers, take a time-travelling taxi ride through 400 years of amazing London history, and soak up the iconic Stardome, featuring out-of this world 360-degree animation by Oscar-winning movie-makers Aardman.

FAB MADAME TUSSAUDS FACTS

From initial sitting to press launch, a typical Madame Tussauds figure takes around four months to make, utilises a team of around 20 skilled artists and costs £150,000.

500 precise body and facial measurements are taken over two hours at a standard sitting session with the celebrity subject. This gives expert Madame Tussauds sculptors all the information they need to create a strikingly realistic figure.

A staggering 2,400lbs of wax is used in nearly 400 figures currently on show in the London attraction. That’s roughly equivalent to 16,000 candles, even though the ‘Japan’ wax used to create figures is incapable of melting.

Around 500 million people have visited Madame Tussauds London since it was first established – that’s more than the population of North America and Australia combined!

‘Sexyback’ pop singer Justin Timberlake gets more hugs than any other figure, and the dry cleaning bill for his super sharp white Savile Row suit proves it! That said, the yearly cost of maintaining the entire Madame Tussauds wardrobe would cover Justin’s bill for the next 30 years!

A dedicated ‘clean up’ squad inspects every figure at 7.30am each morning to ensure that guests can get up, close and personal with stars looking their very, very best.

The biggest figure ever created is that of Marvel comic book hero, The Hulk. 15ft tall and 8ft wide, this green giant has fingers thicker than a grown man’s arm! At the other end of the scale, Madame Tussauds’ smallest figure is Tinker Bell – the world’s most famous fairy stands less than 16cm tall!

The oldest figure in the attraction also breathes. Sculpted in 1765, The Sleeping Beauty is Madame Tussauds’ earliest example of an interactive figure; capturing Louis XV’s mistress Madame Du Barry in peaceful slumber

Most kissed female figure is pop princess Kylie Minogue, now in her fourth incarnation. ‘Showgirl’ Kylie, perched on a crescent moon mid-concert performance, is second only to The Queen in terms of wax re-creations. Her Majesty has had an incredible 22 figures made in her lifetime.

A ‘colour’ by top celebrity coiffeur Daniel Galvin would set Nicole Kidman back around £300; compare that to a brand new hairdo for her Madame Tussauds figure, which comes in well over £1,000 – but at least that includes round-the-clock styling!

Many A-list stars donate clothes for their figures to wear. Jean Paul Gaultier’s likeness is wearing one of his trademark kilts – boxer shorts were quickly added when he realised thousands of guests were peeking underneath it! Beyonce’s mum designed a dress for her daughter’s double to wear; Kylie’s latest figure shines in a CHANEL number from her global ‘Showgirl’ concert tour; and Madame Tussauds’ new eco-friendly Prince Of Wales proudly shows off an official suit, shirt and tie – bespoke collars, cufflinks and all!

Madame Tussauds has escaped destruction in three major 20th century catastrophes. The world famous attraction survived a huge fire in 1925; earthquake in 1931 (the tremors of which topped the head off of Dr Crippen’s figure in Chamber Of Horrors); and devastating Blitz bombing during World War II in 1940 – ironically Hitler was one of the few figures to emerge unscathed.

Madame Tussauds’ figures did their bit for the ‘War Effort’ – they, too, were subject to strict clothes rationing during the early 1940s , and even had coupon books!